All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Spacebabie

by: Spacebabie

Email: LadyAndromeda@smstars.zzn.com

Feedback is not only welcome but greatly appreciated.

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Mysterious Creatures

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Black Ink pen scraped across the blue lined white paper, sketching out notes. Mathematical equations explaining the transference’s of matter were neatly lined out. Seneca Sevarius reached for a potato chip and placed it into her mouth. She didn’t mind having to finish highschool in Mexico. She wished she was warned about moving to south of the border before hand. She was starting to settle into the American schooling system when she was told she had to pack up. Her lab hadn’t even been completed yet.

"Why couldn’t we have moved some place that isn’t so hot?" She mumbled while flipping through her pages. She was used to the Swiss and Vermont air. Late May weather in Mexico was hot and dry.

She stared at her physics book. They had enrolled her in the most advanced school they could find. The teachers were nice and even had a few American students, most likely millitary brats. Some of the textbooks were in English and some where in Spanish and some were in a mix. They had offered to give her books in English but she refused. She spoke three other languages besides English fluently.

She liked her books, classes, teachers and fellow students. The one thing she could not stand was the uniform she had to wear. Gray socks up to her knee, tight shoes, starch white stiff shirts with sleeves down to the elbows, and that annoying little blue bow tie. When she left the Alps she was hoping she left uniforms behind her. Those few weeks in December of American schooling left her feeling free. The wind was frigid but the clothing was actually comfortable.

"Can’t dwell on the past," she grumbled before taking a sip from her Coke and returning her focus back to textbook. She knew most of the facts but she wanted to write down a few that would prove to be the most elusive to her mind in case she forgot something.

She was writing down notes on perpetual motion when she heard a loud banging on the wall. The sound came from the room next to hers. She ignored it. A few seconds the bang came again and repeated itself.

"Perpetual motion is-" the banging turned into a series of rapid beats against the wall. "It’s the belief that an object-"

"Oh Jeremy," the moan belonged to Felicia. "Make me cum, make me scream, make me huuuurrrrrt!"

Seneca narrowed her eyes and continued to try to ignore them. "Perpetual motion is the belief that-" the woman’s moans were joined my her mate’s. Seneca clenched her pen and gritted her teeth. "Perpetual motion is the belief that an object’s speed can rapidly-" The loud roar cut through her mind. "Oh that is it!" She slammed her book shut and stood up. She threw her pen down on her desk and turned on her heel. Fists clenched she stormed out of her room.

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The first person she came across was the yellow green female gargoyle named Ocelot. Seneca thought the gargoyle would have been fuzzy but she was covered with the same reptilian skin as most gargoyles were. She had large blue feathery wings with silver lining. Her fell of blue black mane cascaded down to the base of her tail. Above her eyes were horns that curved inward to the middle of her head like a large letter U or a crescent moon. She had a smaller crescent in the center and even a smaller one in that center.

"I need to talk to someone," Seneca stormed up to her. The cat like gargoyle turned around and narrowed her eyes at her. The teenager knew that this was the gargoyle that had the least amount of love for humans. "I’m trying to study for my finals and it’s difficult when there are two people next to my room copulating at a very loud volume."

"You are a genius?" Ocelot asked in a bored tone. "You do not need to study. You know everything already."

Seneca’s eyes became ice cold silver slits. "Finals are coming up. I have to study to make sure I know everything."

"Even if you make one mistake you will still pass and graduate." Ocelot felt like she shouldn’t have to waste time with the young annoying human. She had better things to do." One little mistake will not hurt you."

"You don’t get it," Seneca hissed. "I’ve been accepted into Princeton. I can’t go there with anything under an A + on my finals. She noticed the gargoyle was too buys staring at her claws. "There is also the rudeness factor. They should not be disturbing me. They should respect everyone else who is trying to have some time in peace and quiet."

"Maybe when little annoying humans learn to respect gargoyles you will get your respect." She turned around and started to walk off.

"Don’t you walk away from me," Seneca snapped. The gargoyle spun around. Her eyes were on fire.

"You don’t talk to me like that human."

"You better not threaten me," Seneca didn’t even bat an eye. "I’m the closest thing you guys have to an actual scientist, so you won’t even think about harming me."

"Don’t be so sure of yourself." She walked off.

"Fine I’ll just see what Thailog has to say." She remembered how she once hated the clone her father created, but she was just a little jealous brat at the time. Since talking with the gargoyle she grew to respect him as an intelligent leader.

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The glow had faded from Ocelot’s eyes but the anger had yet to diminish. There were only a few things that would ease her rage. "Annoying little human," the words came out in a feral cat like hiss. "Think she can order me around and then go tattle if I don’t do what she says?" She slipped though the door to one of the rooms. "I should just go and knock her to the ground. That will shut her up."

The scent of talcum powder was the first to hit her nose The other rooms in the abandoned hotel were barely changed at all when the clan moved in, but this room was different. It was the only one to recieve a fresh coat of paint in the color of strawberry milkshake. Pictures of saccharine style cartoon bunnies and ducks were hung on the walls. A tiny dresser was in one corner, a diaper pail and a changing table was in another. Resting next to the wall on the left side was a straw filled cradle. In the center was a crib.

The person Ocelot wanted to see the most was standing in front of the crib. Bright red hair tied into a ponytail contrasted with her black wings and white fur with black framed brown spots. The mutate was leaning over the crib humming a soothing tune.

"She’s such a beautiful baby," Ocelot nearly said hatchling when she peered into the crib, but she knew the mutate child did not hatch but was born. The sleeping cub was covered with beige fur dotted with reddish brown spots. Wisps of red hair crowned the top of her head. The infant’s wings were secured under the warm white blanket. "You should be proud." The gargoyle kissed Winter’s cheek.

The snow leopard mutate didn’t flinch or wince. She didn’t think much of it. Ocelot had kissed her before, but that was probably because she was from Central America. The Europeans greet each other with a kiss. "I am," she said softly while staring at her daughter. "I’m sure Fang will be proud when he sees her."

"You still miss him?" Ocelot curled her finger down and stroked Winter’s brow.

"Of course I miss him. I love him, and I know he loves me, he’s still searching for us. I just know it."

"How can you be so sure?" Ocelot’s tail rubbed up against the backs of Winter’s legs. "It has been over nine months since we saw him last."

Winter closed her eyes. "He might be in Vermont. He wouldn’t have known we had moved."

"You might never see him again."

"Don’t say that," She turned to look at her. The white mutate’s eyes widened when Ocelot closed her own eyes and leaned forward. Their lips met. Winter pushed the other female off and stepped back. "What are you doing?"

"I’ve had my eye on you for a while now," Ocelot purred. "I’m attracted to you. You are very beautiful, and smart, and caring and you are an excellent cook."

"What about Momar? I thought he was your mate?"

The gargoyle sighed. "Momar understands that I am what you call a lesbian. We both know that this clan needs more eggs. We agreed that he will father my children, but we won’t be mates."

"I have a mate," Winter folded her wings. "I’m attracted to males, I’m still going to wait for Fang."

"I understand and respect your wishes." The gargoyle turned and left the room. She entered full of blood boiling anger, and left with all emotions drained, leaving her empty inside.

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The dead quiet of Rodriguiz’s sheep ranch was thicker than the Earth’s crust. The sheep who have to take an hour to get through their bleating and just one more bite of grass had settled into their slumber. There was not even a snore from the golden brown Welsh Corgi that curled up on the bottom step of the ranch house.

The tranquil silence was shattered when one of the lambs woke and stood up. It carefully maneuvered around the flock. Once it crawled around the last sleeping ram it wandered over to the long trough filled with water. It lowered it’s gentle head and sipped the cool liquid.

It had only halfway satisfied it’s thirst when a crackling sound came from outside the fence. Snapping it’s head up it let out a long bleat to alert the other sheep. It turned around on it’s hooves to trot back, but found out it couldn’t move. Something had grabbed on it it’s wool and pulled it toward the fence. The lamb tried to jump from it’s captor’s grasp, but the other creature held on tight. Still kicking the lamb saw it’s mother racing towards him. In the distance the Corgi broke free from the barricade of sheep.

The lambs mother raced to the spot where her offspring disappeared. The lamb had disappeared from sight, but his scent was still in the air. His mother traced his scent to the other side of the fence. She heard his weak bleats and tried to jump over to get to him while ignoring the sharp barks of the Corgi.

She had made it half over the fence. The wooden edge pressed sharply into her belly. She kicked that wooden posts of the fence trying to get over the side. A pair of hands ending in sharp claws sank into her wool and pulled her over.

The Corgi growled and nipped at the fence. Something on the other side of the fence hissed back. Knowing it’s defeat the dog ran back towards the flock. It knew it had to keep the rest of them from wandering over to where the other sheep had disappeared to and alert it’s master. The small golden brown dog’s ears twitched when he heard his master call for him and ran through the sheep not stopping nor caring that one little lamb looked into the darkness confused, wandering what had happened to her mother and brother.

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Warning this site contains adult material in order to view the content you must be legally over 18 years of age. Are you over 18?

Reginald Leahs read the message inside the warning box and blinked. He raised his eyebrows slightly at the gray warning box and snorted. Of course he was over eighteen. He scrolled the mouse over the yes arrow and clicked the button. It seemed trite to put the warning up and ask a person if the were of the age of consent. Even if the person was a horny fourteen year old he would click on the yes button.

"Dumb lazy way of protecting the children," Reggie said before he took a sip of his coffee and waited for the page to load

"Hello handsome," the voice that came through the speakers sounded similar to the women he called up on the 1-900 number lines. "Who would you like to see?" The way the page was set up it was to believe the owner of the voice was the slender blond woman dancing in the middle of the screen. She wore nothing but a pair of black panties. One each side of her were the names of several women who most likely were using a fake name. Reggie read off the list: Tiffany Diamond, Kandi Cane, Amber Flame, Ginger Snap, Rose Thorn, Lolli Pop, Lacey Ribbon and Crystal Vase.

"I wonder how many of their names are actually real," Reggie mumbled while trying to decide which adorable porn star name he should click on.

"Sir?" Winter’s voice carried through on the intercom. Reggie placed his hands behind his head. The choice was settled on between Roe and Crystal when he heard the small speaker that was installed in the ceiling over his head call out. "Mr. Leahs there is a man at the door."

"I’m on it," Reggie leaped from his chair. The possibility of customer was enough to pry his eys away from the computer, and the ladies.

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The man was nervous. Reggie noticed that from the way he held his coffee cup. The young businessman led the man, Mr. Rodriguiz, to the room that served as Reggie’s office.

"I’ll try to speak in my best Spanish," Reggie said from behind his cheap black painted wood board desk. "But our best translator is at school." He wrote down what he wanted to say in English first and slowly translated his own words the best as he could.

Rodriguiz set down his cup, rattling against the desk top before he let go. " My English is not best, but I try." He reached up with the bright orange rag and wiped the sweat from his slightly balding head. He had taken off his straw hat the second he stepped into the building and set it down under his chair.

Reggie shrugged and picked up a pen. "Whatever you chose. I was just trying to make things easier."

"I understand," Rodriguiz played with his overall straps. "I come to you because of what happened. What happened on my Ranch. Something attacked my sheep. My dog, my men and I went to check. The beast was gone. I wake up and find two dead sheep."

"Two dead sheep? Reggie repeated.

Rodriguiz nodded. "Two dead sheep, not chewed or eaten, but had bites."

"They were bitten?"

"Yes."

"And no other sign of them being attacked? The bodies were in perfect shape?"

"Yes," the rancher reached over for his cup and brought it too his lips.

"Don’t worry Mr. Rodriguiz we’ll take care of this problem."

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Two people and a robot stood in front of the eight statues. Like the stone beings the robot had a pair of large wings and a tail. His constructed high arched large feet ended in sharp toed talons. On each side of him stood a human.

The male was Reggie Leahs. Slightly wavy chestnut colored hair was brushed back. His bluish purple oval eyes twinkled intently. He stood before the clan in the same eggplant silk shirt and dark blue slack he had earlier that day.

One the robot’s other side stood a young woman who appeared a couple of yers younger than Reggie. Smooth straight hair that was dyed hot pink flowed to slightly past her shoulders. Nobody knows what her original hair color was. She had never told anyone and she continued to dye it. Before it had been pale green, bright red, and light blue. Instead of doing all over color she dyed her bangs black.

The humans' breathing patterns changed slightly and Reggie blinked when they saw the statues from cracks and moved. The stone The gargoyles let our loud roars before they shook off their stone skin.

"Jeremy," Felicia raced up to the purple gargoyle with the barbed tail and short brown spiky hair. She wrapped her pale arms around him.

The purple gargoyle softened his brooding dark expression. "Ah Felicia," Jeremy whispered. "Why are you being so huggy tonight?"

Felicia smiled and whispered into his ear. "I’m still tingly from last night." She dropped her voice a few more decibels. "I lost count of how many times I came."

Thailog removed the last fleck of stone from his snowy mane . He smiled at the rest of his clan, his ruby eyes lingered on Chi Lin the longest. When he saw Felicia and Jeremy holding on to each other he cleared his throat. "I don’t mind if you two engage in certain night time activities, but I received a request from Seneca last night before she went to bed." He ignored Ocelot’s hissing. "Try to keep it down. Her education is extremely important to our clan. She must have perfect silence in order to study."

Felicia rolled her round deep green eyes. "I’ll try, but it’s hard to keep me from getting vocal."

"I must have made a racket myself," Jeremy grinned. "With all that roaring."

"Just try to keep it down," Thailog ordered.

"Where is that girl anyways?" Felicia stared into the eyes of her lover. "I hadn’t seen after she got home."

"Studying," Reggie told her while approaching Thailog. In his hands were a written contract. "We have a job."

The dark gargoyle arched a brow ridge. "A protection assignment?"

"We have been hired by Mr. Rodriguiez to take care of something that had attacked and killed two of his sheep." He handed the clan leader the written contract.

Thailog took it from his hands "Something?"

"We don’t know what it is. All we know is that we have a job."

Thailog stared at the hand written contract. He read the price of their assignment from the pesos that was offered he converted them into American dollars and compared it to their standard asking price. It was a little low, but they hadn’t receive a job in over a month. "I want one team to inspect the surroundings of the ranch without being seen." He lifted his eyes off from the paper. "Two more groups will search for what possibly attacked the ranch." He folded up the contract and handed it back to Reggie. "Ocelot I want you and Vlad to be one team searching." Both the cat like gargoyle and the feather winged British bat like gargoyle nodded. Thailog turned to Jeremy. "Houston I want you and Coldsteel to form the second search team."

Jeremy pulled free from the arms of his mate. His face turned cold and dark. "Mission accepted."

"Momar you and Ursa will go with Reggie to explore the ranch and find any possible clues." The two gargoyles that he addressed also nodded. The male was silver in color with long dreadlock like quills topping his head. The female was a light brown feather winged bear gargoyle with short strawberry blond hair.

"Gawain you and Chi Lin will train," Thailog said to the green gargoyle youth from Avalon and the pale pink Chinese gargoyle. "But first I believe Winter has breakfast prepared for us." He lead the clan out of the room.

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The rust colored gargoyle from London stared at the ground searching for any sign of strange prints. His ears that were even larger than the average gargoyle’s twitched slightly at each minute or every other minute. High above him Ocelot leaped from tree to tree, pausing on each one to check for unusual claw marks and to look at the ground from above to see anything unusual.

Vlad pushed back the small leafy branches of a shrub that threatened to scratch at him so that he could better examine strange prints of a predatory beast. On careful examination the animal tracks belonged to a fox, or the Mexican equivalent of a fox. "Bloody hell!" He gave the bush one last smack before standing back up. "We have been out here for hours and we still haven’t found anything out yet." He flapped his feathery wings, creating a small breeze. "And it’s hot enough to cook bangers on the ground."

Ocelot rubbed her finger over the claw marks made into the branch. They were too small to be anything serious. They were the marks of a hawk. She tore her eyes away from the tree to stare down at the bat like gargoyle. "It is not that hot," she scolded and spread her blue wings to glide to the ground.

Vlad snorted the second he landed. "Well you are used to this heat." He noticed her annoyed expression soften and her eyes became slightly moistened. "You are originally from around here, right?"

"That is not exactly right. I’m from a nearby country," Ocelot lowered her head. "I miss my old clan."

"Why did you leave again?"

"Because they were letting their guard down," she twisted up her muzzle into a snarl. "They were allowing more humans to get close to the clan, know where we live. Where our children live."

He folded his wings into a feathery cloak and crossed his arms. "You don’t care that much for humans?"

"They destroyed my clan." Her hands clenched tightly. "Smashed them while they slept and the special pendant warriors had to protect the trees." Her eyes lit up. "If they protected the clan they wouldn’t have been slaughtered."

"My clan lived with humans peacefully," they began to walk together. "At this estate made of wood and stone. It looks like a small castle."

"We lived in a stone pyramid in the middle of the jungle." The female gargoyle smiled at the memory. "All in privacy. I went with two of my clan mates on a sabbatical that was only to last a little over a year. It lasted over three. We returned and found only two members of our clan. The others were smashed and Jade and Turquesa went to some island to transplant some of our plants. They returned with a human child and a kitten."

"I bet you were thrilled."

"I do not mind children, but then my clan allowed this one human to get close and then we learned from that human that a gringo was buying part of The Green for himself and for research, that I could not handle."

Vlad absorbed the information and nodded his head. "We don’t really associate with many other humans, except for the Chapel family. We have a few members that own a shop in London. they make a good profit, my love and I wanted to earn money but out leader," he rolled his eyes. "said that earning money was a human trait and it would corrupts us. At that point I called him a hypocrite and Ursa and I left."

The Guatemalan gargoyle climbed up the nearest a tree and Vlad kneeled down to search for more tracks. They were going to search for one more hour and after that they were going to go back and report they had found nothing.

He felt his ears twitch several times when he heard the faint sounds of heavy breathing. "Ocelot?" he whispered and stared up. The sounds were not coming from her. They were several yards ahead, on the ground. He approached the source of the sounds slowly and with great caution. They breathing became louder. The breathing was mixed with slight sobbing. A female’s sobbing.

Vlad dropped to the ground and crawled ahead. He paused when he saw the outline of a human woman on the ground. They sounds were coming for her.

"Don’t be afraid," the bat faced gargoyle did not move. "We don’t want to hurt you. We want to help you. He heard a string of words in Spanish. He looked up overhead at the nearest tree. "Ocelot I could use your help."

He heard the sound of wind against stretched leather and a thud of something landing behind him. "What is it?"

"There is a human female who I can’t communicate with," he spoke over his shoulder. "I think she might be hurt. Tell her not to be afraid."

Ocelot turned repeated what Vlad asked here too say in her native tongue. She heard the woman say something back and blinked.

"Well?" Vlad raised a brow ridge. "What did she say."

Ocelot curled her mouth in amusement. "She said angel. She thinks we are angels."

"Well it’s better than monster. Tell her what we really are and that we want to help."

The female gargoyle translated the words to the woman.

"Gargolas?" They heard the other woman say. "Real ones, like ones in America? In New York?"

"Yes we are," Vlad stood back up. "Just like them" He stepped forward. Ocelot held out her arm to hold him back.

"Let me approach her first," she said. "My name is Ocelot. Like the cat." She approached the woman. Her eyes widened at the sight of the injured female.

The woman appeared to be around the age of seventeen or eighteen. Her sable hair was gathered into a pony tail that had become loose and sloppy. A small almost button like nose was between a pair of heavy lashed dark brown eyes. She wore no shoes. Her clothing consisted of a pair of denim pants and a dirty white blouse that hung around her form. Her body was covered in scratches that were in four bloody rows a piece.

Vlad stared at the injured woman and folded his wings. "My name is Vlad. Could you tell us how this happened?"

The woman stared at them for a few minutes before she tried to stand up. Her trembling arms gripped the ground as she pushed up. Ocelot approached her and grabbed her to keep her from falling. "Gracias," she whispered to Ocelot. "My name is Camilla Rodriguiz. I wanted to help my half brother with his ranch. I search for what attacked..." the rest of words dissolved into a soft muttering. She cradled her knees to her chest and slowly rocked back and forth. "Monstruo vert con garras largo y ojos roja."

Ocelot gingerly held onto Camilla’s hand. "She was attacked by a green monster with long claws and red eyes."

"Did it look like one of us?" Vlad asked.

"No. It was smaller, no wings, no tail."

"We have to take her back to the ranch," Ocelot wrapped her arms around Camilla and picked her up. "She will receive medicine for her wounds."

"I thought you didn’t care for humans."

She glared at him. "She’s injured. She doesn’t want to worm her way into our clan." Cradling the human girl Ocelot approached the nearest tree.

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The tracks were long and bird shaped and ended in four pointed toes. Coldsteel had discovered the tracks not too far from the ranch. Jeremy confirmed that whatever killed the sheep made the strange footprints. The scent of the dead sheep told him they were in the spot where the creatures were feasted on by whatever.

The human turned gargoyle raced on the ground following the beast’s tracks. Over head Coldsteel searched from above for whatever had attacked the sheep.

Jeremy paused when he felt his limbs relax. The muscles became sore and he was out of breath. He hugged the ground while he tried to catch his breath. "Coldsteel," he shouted to the sky between gasps.. "Could you pause for a minute?" He closed eyes for a second and reopened them when he heard the robot’s rockets returning. "Some of us are still flesh and blood beings. We need to rest now and then."

The silver robot landed right next to him. "I am sorry. I was trying to go after the warm blooded creature on my inferred."

Houston raised his brow ridges slightly. "Creature?"

"It was not a beast that is indigenous to this area."

"If that is the creature then go ahead," Jeremy sat up. "I’ll catch up." He didn’t hear Coldsteel say anything. All he heard was the robot’s rockets starting back up. He laid back down and rolled on his side. The weather was annoyingly warm, not just warm but also sticky with heavy humidity warm. Jeremy tried not to let it get to him. He should be focusing on catching his breath and letting his limbs rest.

After a few minutes he sat back up and stared at the sky. He inhaled and exhaled through his nose. He sat up taller when he smelled something strange. A unique scent that was like the combination of unwashed humans, leather and mulch. The scent was strange, but the sound he heard was equally strange. It was hissing that rose in pitch to almost shrieking.

Jeremy stood back up. "Hello? Is anybody out there?" He didn’t like this. It reminded him of the scene in horror movies where a character is alone in the woods and they hear a sound right before they are attacked by a beast or attacked by a psycho wearing a strange mask. "Coldsteel?" He knew it wasn’t the robot, but he hoped that the machine wasn’t that far away. He shouldn’t be panicking. He had to pull himself together. He bent his knees and unfolded his wings. His multi barbed tail lashed against the ground.

He didn’t know when the attack happened. It was too quick. Once second he was anticipated being jumped by something and the next thing he knew some creature was on top of him lashing it’s claws down against his thick skin. Jeremy growled in pain from the sharp edges sinking in and tearing his flesh. He brought his fist up against the side of the beast’s head. The creature let out a shrill whine and buried it’s elbow into Jeremy’s shoulder. The beast had a long sharp spur. The purple gargoyle let out a roar from the puncturing he felt in his shoulder.

He heard the hum of a non projectile weapon before the creature lashed out his arms and shrieked in pain. It rolled off Houston into a nearby clump of grass.

Jeremy turned to look at the beast. The little bastard scrambled to it’s feet and speed through the forest. All he saw was it’s large round head ending in a pointed chin. Its large round red eyes took up most of it’s face. A thin mohawk streaked down the center of his skull.

"You are injured," The voice belonged to Coldsteel. Jeremy turned to see the silver gargoyle like robot lower his arm. "What was that creature?"

Jeremy rolled over and stood back up. "That what was I was going to ask you." He stared down at his bleeding limbs, and chest he grabbed onto his shoulder and felt the warm sticky blood flowing out. "I think we found our mysterious creature."

"I believe you are correct," two beams of light shone out from the robot’s eyes like flash lights and touched the ground. They highlighted strange looking prints that lead away from where the struggle was. It was the same prints that they were tracking.

"Coldsteel could you carry me back home?" Houston stared up at him. "I need some first aid."

Coldsteel said nothing and stepped up to the gargoyle. Long metal tentacles slithered out from his robotic limbs and wrapped around Houston and pulled his lean body till it was tight against his mechanical form. He fired up his rocket thrusters in the back and took off into the sky.

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She was almost like a bear, but her slender limbs that ended in strong talons were more humanoid or gargoyle in nature. Her wings that consisted of golden feathers were folded over her back like a cloak. Ursa stared at the tree, rubbing her finger pads of the smooth limb that ended in slender and leafless branches before she turned around to face her coworkers.

"Reggie" her honeyed voice rang out. "Momar I found something interesting."

Both human and Jordan gargoyle lifted their heads up from the long footprint in the ground. Momar was writing down notes that Reggie repeated to him while the human made a sketch of the print. Reggie pursed his lips together from the sight of the bear like gargoyle examining the nearbye tree. "Did you find any strange punctures or claw marks in the trees?"

She shook her head. "No I didn’t, but I did find something equally interesting."

Reggie stared down at Momar. "Are you going to be all right finishing up with this?"

"I can take it over," The silver gargoyle said. "You go see what she found."

Ursa kept her hand on the smooth naked limbs and looked up at the approaching human. "This tree had been scraped."

"Scraped?" Reggie arched a brow. "What are you talking about."

She pointed to the tree. "One side of the tree has no bark and look at the branches, no bark and no leaves."

"I have to agree that is an interesting find, but unless the creature that killed Rodriguiz’s sheep had done this then I have no interest.

Ursa blinked and parted her muzzle. She could not think of the right words to answer him. She tried thinking of something to say.

The woosh of wings and the scent of her mate brought her attention over head. Ocelot and Vlad landed between them and Momar. In Ocelot’s arms was a bleeding woman wearing shredded clothing.

Ursa’s eyes widened. "Where did you find her?"

"Not too far from here," Vlad said before giving her a hug. "We were tracking the creature down when we came across Camilla."

"Camilla?" Reggie raised his eyebrows while opining at the wounded and trembling woman.

Ocelot turned her focus from trying to calm the woman down. "That is her name. Her brother owns this ranch. She was trying to find out what attacked the sheep when the same creature attacked her. The poor girl was probably out all day without any medicine or food."

"She’s seen the creature responsible for the dead sheep?" Momar stood back up. "She’s too injured to be a witness right now."

Reggie nodded. "Injured and frightened. She needs to be bandaged and calmed down." He held out his arms. "I’ll take her to her brother. You guys return home and report to Thailog." Ocelot slipped Camilla into his arms and followed her clan to the nearbye trees. Reggie noticed that Ursa had made sure they ignored the one that she had examined.

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Soft humming floated out of the room that served as the clan’s nursery. Winter paused outside the door for a minute trying to figure out who was inside. Three of the females stayed behind along with the leopard mutate.

Slipping through the door she saw Chi Lin standing in front of the straw filled cradle. The pale pink Chinese gargoyle was so focused on what was in the cradle she did not notice Winter entering the room. Her chartuse wings were folded against her slender frame.. Her raven locks were done up into a traditional bun and held in place by ornate pins. Protruding through her glossy hair were two small pointed horns. Both points paled in comparison to the long spiral horn that took up residence in the middle of Chi Lin’s forehead.

Winter tried to walk past the gargoyle with out disturbing her, but despite how lightly she stepped she could see the gargoyle large deer like ears twitch. Winter paused in her tracks, waiting for the gargoyle to spin around on her two toed feet. "I did not mean to disturb you." She said before approaching the cradle again. "It is my daughter’s feeding time."

Chi lin relaxed her posture. "It is all right. I was just singing to my egg." She stepped away from the cradle. Resting in the center of the honey colored hay was a large lavender egg, the size an ostrich would lay. Three spots that were only one tint darker than the rest of the shell decorated it.

Winter squinted her eyes while she leaned in closer to view the egg. She hadn’t noticed the spots before. "How long have they had those spots?"

"Not very long," Chi Lin gave her egg a gentle pat. "They start to come in as the egg matures. These the three will be joined by more and they will darken to deep purple. We can tell when an egg is close to hatching by how many and how dark the spots are."

It made sense to Winter. Bananas receive spots when they become ripe. "How has she behaved?" The mutate stared into the crib. Her daughter was still asleep.

"She had not made a single sound."

Winter bent down to pick Spring up. "That is good." The furry infant opened her eyes but did not cry. Carefully cradling her Winter sat down on the rocking chair. She pulled out a furry breast and bought her daughter close to her nipple. "Chi Lin may I ask you something?"

"Yes you may," the gargoyle nodded, causing her dark hair to slightly loosen from the bun.

"Are you happy being Thailog’s mate?"

The other female was silent. She crinkled her forehead while pondering the question. "I am very happy. He is the leader of our clan and the strongest. Thailog is a very clever gargoyle and proved to be a good mate."

Winter did not hear the answer she wanted. "Do you love him?"

The gargoyle lowered her head. "I do."

"He was not your first choice."

"Hunter already had a mate," Chi Lin sighed. "And he hates gargoyles. I was a fool."

Winter kept her eyes on her daughter while she nursed. "Well it has been over a year. He might have changed his position. Here is another question. What if The Pack stayed with the clan and Thailog and Hunter’s mate had disappeared like Fang. Would you tried to find a relationship with someone else like Hunter."

"If he accepted then yes."

"Okay same question in reverse. Hunter chose you over the human and he disappears would you form a relationship with Thailog?"

Once again the pink forehead formed wrinkles. "Perhaps in time and if I knew he would never comeback then I would." She stared up at the mutate. "Is this about Fang?"

Winter nodded.

"Never give up hope."

____________________________________________________________________________

It was easier to track down prints during the daytime for humans anyways. For a robot, or a robot that had the soul of a millennia long dead gargoyle placed in it by magic it did not matter if was day time or night. He could see perfectly well at either times. It was humans who had the problem. Coldsteel wished that Thailog gave him permission the day before to just go it alone. Instead he had to drag the half asleep human with the strange hair color.

Reggie had came with them to speak with Rodriguiz about what the creature might be. Coldsteel knew the two humans were also discussing business. Good. Maybe Reggie could negotiate for the rancher to raise the price a bit.

"I wonder how that woman is doing," Felicia said. It was the first time the human had spoke that day. She was still asleep when Reggie and Coldsteel were about to leave and only had a handful of minutes to slip into a baggy pair of jeans. A large black belt with a heavy brass buckle that had the Mets insignia on it kept her pants secure.On her feet were a pair of sneakers and she wore T-shirt with an image of a decapitated Jar Jar Binks airbrushed on and with tears that ran up five inches along the sides and were held together by a few safety pins. "You know the injured woman that Ocelot and Vlad found."

Coldsteel kept his eyes on the ground for any unusual markings, scratches or prints. "I do now her."

"Didn’t you say that the woman had the same kind of scratches that Jeremy did?" She leaned against a fence post and ignored the annoying yapping coming from the golden brown dog.

"I believe I said that." He did not pry his eyes from the ground.

"That means the same creature attacked them both." She lowered her eyelids. The sunlight felt warm, not hot yet, but still warm. Leaning against the fence she felt like she could possibly snooze.

"You would make a great detective."

Felicia did not snap her head up. "Nice to see that you are not completely immune to sarcasm." Damn it why didn’t Reggie let her sleep? She crawled under the covers only after five in the morning. Outside sounds were drowned away from the Sandman’s spell that covered her completely.

The dampening of her calf and the tightness of cotton constricted against her knee caused her to snap back into full attention. Something was chewing on her leg. She kicked as the fence with her leg that wasn’t being used as a chew toy. Her leg that was snacked on was positioned at an odd angle. The relapse of her pants caused her to snap forward. Loosing her balance Felicia landed on the ground with a grunt. She sat up and turned around to see what was snacking on her jeans. A guilty sheep stared back at her through the gap between fence boards.

"I found something," Coldsteel’s voice shattered the idea of just staying on the warm ground and taking a nap on the spot. She straightened her pant leg covered in sheep slobber and stood back up.

Coldsteel waited for the human to come to him. He did not comment on why one of her pant legs appeared wet, or why she had dirt covered the rest of her legs and her shirt. "Look," he pointed at the ground. There were the prints of bare human feet mixed with hoof print of sheep and the long pointed prints of the green beasts that were attacking the sheep.

_______________________________________________________________________________

The tech room was filled with two rows of desktop tables. Each with three computers. A scanner and a printer was hooked up to each row. In the center was a large screen television surrounded by large speakers. The equipment was brought over to Mexico along with the rest of the clan.

Upon arrival Reggie and Coldsteel went right up to the tech room and called Winter. Felicia mumbled something about a bath and a nap before leaving.

Reggie slipped into one of the chairs infront of the long desks and reached down to push the on button of the computer. "From the description Jeremy gave us plus the information I received from Mr. Rodriguiz I can simply deduce this is not the average creature native to Mexico." He waited for the his personal layout to boot up. He clicked onto his online icon and clicked Connect.

"What kind of sight are looking for?" Winter asked.

Reggie typed in the address for Ask Jeeves. "One on Mexican legends. I’m sure well find what we are looking for." He typed in a command and pressed enter. A list of came up. Reggie clicked on the first one that was listed. "We even have artist renderings of these myths." The human male said. His eyes skimmed through several creatures until he saw a picture of green beast with a large round head large black eyes. "Well I believe we found what we are looking for." Next to the image of the green creature were words in large blood red font: Chupacabra.

____________________________________________________________________________

Winter speed walked along the ground. Her keen predatory eyes were on the sharp look out for any more sign of the prints. She also made sure that she nor Ocelot were being followed by any possible chupacabras. It was what they were calling them now. Reggie Leahs went over the notes he made and compared them with the information on the Website and Houston agreed it looked exactly like the creature that had attacked him looked like the one in the print out.

Like the night before Ocelot searched the trees for any possible sign of the beast they were tracking weather it be rows of gouges caused by claws or the bark being stripped from the limb. Reggie may not take the stripped off bark seriously but Thailog did. He told everyone who went out to search to keep a sharp look out.

Winter didn’t know why Thailog asked her to go out that night. She felt she wasn’t ready to leave Spring behind. Some of the gargoyles told her that even female’s who became parents went out to keep their warrior skills sharp. "How long have we been out?" She asked. She was told she only had to be searching for three hours.

From above her she could hear the gargoyle. "One hour."

"We only have to continue for thirty more minutes and then turn around."

"Leader says we have to keep searing for three hours."

Winter ran a hand through her hair and smiled. "He said we only have to be out for three hours. We journey one way for an hour and a half and it takes us that same amount of time to come back and that will be three hours." She chuckled to herself before looking at the ground. Her eyes widened when she saw the long print of their query. "Ocelot I found something."

The mustard colored gargoyle landed next to her and lowered herself into a crouch. One hand rested against the marking in the ground. "They are not that fresh, but they are not very old either. I would say that it’s a few hours old."

"I want to get this over with as fast as possible," Winter said. "We only have about half an hour left at least. Thats see how much ground we can cover in that amount of time." She began to walk even faster, not looking to where she was going. She did not see the large curved root that was in her path.

"Winter watch out!" Ocelot cried, but winter did not hear her.

The young mother tripped over the root and disappeared.

"Winter!" The gargoyle screeched and bounded on all fours to where the mutate had disappeared. Beyond the large root was a short drop. She saw that Winter wasn’t seriously hurt but she was injured. She sat up cradling her foot and rubbing her ankle. "What happened."

Winter stared up at her. "You would think that having wings would mean that I wouldn’t be able to fall like that." She tried to laugh.

"Do not move," Ocelot commanded.

The snow leopard mutate stared up and watched as Ocelot glided from tree to tree grabbing up handfuls of green items. She glided in for a landing next to Winter. In her hand was a green leafy ball held together by a smooth green stem like string. Ocelot untied the vine that bound the bundled together. In the center of the leaves was a purplish flower and a small handful of red berries. Ocelot squeezed the flower until golden liquid dribbled out. Holding the flower over the berry she coated it with the golden syrup.

"The nectar of the flower combined with these berries will help with the pain," she explained and handed the mutate a nectar covered berry. She didn’t wait to see if Winter had eaten it or not. She took the leaves and wrapped up her injured ankle in them. Once the last leaf was wrapped she wrapped the vine around the ankle and tied it up.

The berry was sour, but the sweet nectar made it edible. Winter swallowed the natraul medicine and wandered how long it would take for the pain to go away. She watched as Ocelot treated her injury. She was gentle with the way she wrapped up her foot, making sure not to envelope the leaves too tightly.

"We must go back home now," Ocelot’s voice was soft. "I don’t want you to get even more hurt and your daughter needs you. She looked up into the other female’s greenish yellow eyes. "Can you glide?"

Winter gave her wings a light flap. "My wings are not injured, but I’m going to need help getting into a nearby tree."

"I can do that." Ocelot bent down to scoop her up into her arms.

________________________________________________________________

Reggie leaned against the sheep’s water trough and pulled out his bright thermos with the white lettering that spelled out Cool Dude. He unscrewed the top and tilted the bottle over the cap turned cup. Steaming dark liquid emerged from the spout. "Anyone want some?" He held up both thermos and cup. No one answered him. It was their loss. He tilted the cup and took a long drink of his coffee.

His boss and leader of the clan sat on his right. Skin a shade of blue so dark it was almost black contrasted with the flowing hair that was even whiter than the wool of the she sheep they were watching. Blood red eyes were fixated on the papers printed out from the Website. He wanted to learn more of the different Mexican legends. His large pointed ears were sharpen to pick up even the footstep of a field mouse. Across his lap rested his lazer rifle.

"Civeteto," Thailog read from the print out. "A female vampire that feeds on children. Civeteto’s are born from other Civeteto’s who mate with humans."

Reggie knew not to call him Thailog, not with the gargoyle from Avalon guarding the sheep along with them. Like Thailog the young male had a fell of alabaster hair. He kept his tied back with a cord of leather. Large golden wings ending in three clawed wing fingers rested over his shoulders. Above his brow was a row of pointed prongs. His well chiseled facial features were the same as the statues of the Greek gods, or like biblical characters carved by Renaissance artists.

The slightly deep barking of the ranch dog caused both gargoyles to sit up. Reggie remained where he sat and slurped more of his caffenated beverage. If this dog was any like the ones in New York it was barking because the wind blew or a leaf fell from a nearby tree. He only took notice when several sheep joined the dog in chorus.

"Trouble?" Reggie downed the last of the coffee that was in the cup and screwed the lid back on.

Gaiwan removed his long and slender sword from his boiled leather sheath. "It sounds like it." He turned to Thailog. "Shall we explore to see what it is?"

Thailog held up a hand. "We must be patient." He hefted up his metallic red and silver gun that was shaped like a regular rifle.

Reggie pulled his own gun, a pathetic 35. caliber hand gun, out from his holster and held it up in the style of those who were challenged to a duel. His back faced the backs of the gargoyles. Nothing was going to get by them.

Rustling near the fence coupled with the loud barking of the dog and the bleating of panicking sheep brought both guns to aim at the rustling.

"Wait for it," Thailog commanded, his finger rested on the curve of the trigger. The rustling was replaced by the thud of someone or something mounting the fence. "Now!" Thailog fired his weapon, sending a glowing sunset colored blast. He fired again along with Reggie at the same target. This time one of them struck something. A loud shriek that was loud and shrill enough to be a cry of a pained woman cut through the air.

Reggie lowered his gun and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I guess that was that." He tried to spin the gun on his hand like the cowboys from the westerns. He either didn’t have the exact skill or his hands were too slippery. His weapon landed on the hard ground. With a sheepish grin he bent down to pick it up. There was no longer any smoke billowing off the gun’s snout but to complete his dramatic effect he had to blow at his gun before he could resheath it.

Thailog just stared at him with a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He wanted it to be over, have Reggie collect the money and return home. They had to prepare to move again after Seneca graduates.

Rustling from where they fired their guns brought all three heads up. Thailog turned to his young champion from Avalon. "Gawain I want to track down the creature, kill it, and bring it back here."

Gawain said nothing. He slid his sword back into it’s sheath and dropped drown to all fours. His powerful limbs made him appear to fly over the ground. With a single leap he cleared the fence and continued to run.

____________________________________________________________________________

He was not going to risk being attacked on the ground again. Being tackled by a chupacabra once was more than enough for Jeremy. He glided over the tree tops on his large triangular shaped wings while he watced the ground with a sharp eagle’s eye. It did not bother him that Vlad was racing on the ground instad, the dirt trembling beneath him and small plants being disturbed from where they rested.

A small yet significant movment in the one of the trees caused Jeremy to hover, his body kept aloft by his wings stretched out and hugging the warm air. One brach from a tree bent slight from the creature that perched on it. Jeremy glided closer for a better look. It was smaller than him in size with moss green skin. He only saw the creature from behind. He wanted to glide in closer but it had leaped into another tree.

Houston searched the ground to find Vlad’s location. The red bat like gargoyle was resting on his haunches staring up at the sky. Houston glided around him in a circle. "I found one of them." He shouted down. "It’s heading northeast. We have to hurry."

"Hurry," Vlad blinked. "Is it that fast?"

"You weren’t attacked by one, I was. Lets hurry and find out where it lives. Come back and tell the others."

Vlad shook his head ans sighed. It was going to be along night and he couldn’t do anything about it. He tore off in the direction the other gargole was gliding towards.

____________________________________________________________________________

The felinoid female gargoyle and snow leopard mutate glided parallel to each other on the way home. Winter wandered why the gargoyle didn’t glide ahead or trailed a little behind her.

"Are you having any trouble gliding?" Ocelot asked. Her brow ridges were raised and her obsidian eyes were as warm and soft as freshly made pudding.

Winter’s lips turned up into a smile. "I’m not having any trouble at all. Thank you for asking." She returned her attention back to the direction they were heading in. She did not notice Ocelot gliding closer or when the mustard color gargoyle took her hand into her own. She did feel when Ocelot gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

It was the mustard yellow gargoyle who saw the hunched over form first lurching on the ground, through the shadows. She pulled back her dark blue wings to make the descent, only pausing briefly to stare back at Winter to make sure she was not having any trouble. Seeing that her friend and patrol partner was safety hovering in the air with a confused expression the gargoyle returned her focus to the mysterious figure.

Ocelot’s eyes widened at the sight of the bleeding human who shuffled forward clutching her shoulder. Camilla’s white blouse was stained crimson at the shoulder. More blood trickled through her fingers.

The gargoyle landed a few feet in front of her. Her feet barely made any sound yet the human looked up at her and widened her eyes in pure shock. Ocelot noticed the expression and stepped back slightly. "Camilla it is me," she folded her wings into cloak formation over her shoulders. "What happened."

The human stared back at her unblinking for a few minutes before she worked her jaw into speaking. "I was shot."

"By a gun?" Ocelot tried to reach out for her, but thought better off it and let her arm fall and rest against her side. When the human nodded she spoke again. "Let me carry you back to your home."

The mutate hovered in the sky keeping a close watch on Ocelot and Camilla. The Guatemalan gargoyle was caring to her and now she wants to help this injured human. Maybe it was because she was the sister of a paying customer, or maybe it was because of something else. Maybe it was because of the gargoyles instinct to protect and here she was protecting both Winter and Camilla. No it wasn’t the protection instinct with her. She knew why Ocelot still had feelings for her. Winter had to admit that she was beautiful with a lithe cat like body. She was strong, smart, had respect for the clan leader yet would stand up for herself.

Ocelot tore off some more leaves from a different tree and grabbed a few flowers. She squeezed the nectar from one flower into the pollen of another and combined the two into a paste before she coated one of the large leaves with it. She pressed it against the bleeding shoulder of the human before wrapping more leaves around the first.

"That will protect you from infection until you get proper medical attention," Ocelot said while she finished wrapping up the injury.

Winter stared at the nearby patch of trees and watched as the gargoyle scaled up the bark with the human’s arms wrapped around her shoulders. She had worried that Camilla was not going to be able to hold on to Ocelot as the gargoyle climbed up the tree, but her worrying was for nothing since the human seemed to be holding tightly despite her pain.

____________________________________________________________________________

Two living arrows shot through the forest. One was deep red with feather tipped wings and the other purple with wings of leather. They never lost sight of the moss colored creature that raced over the ground, leaping over small bushes with astonishing agility. Both gargoyles wished they could sail as smoothly through the woods but the had to descend quickly and briefly, or glide up to avoid being smacked by a branch or two.

Vlad’s eyes that were the same deep brownish yellow shade of earwax was glued on to the chupacabra’s from. He was the first one to notice that the creature had disappeared into a large dome of rocks covered with dirt, moss, fungus and small plants. "Well I do believe we found it’s nest."

The corners of Jeremy’s mouth pulled up into a smirk. "Mission accomplished." His wings pulled back as his body prepared to spin around. "Time to go back to tell the others."

"Hold the phone chap," Vlad held up a hand. "I think we should make sure that the creature does call that it’s home and see if there are more of them." He sifted his wings to land when Houston grabbed his hand and gave him a "Are you crazy" look.

"That wouldn’t be wise. You never grappled with one of these things before."

"Don’t tell me the mighty Jeremy Houston is a coward." Vlad narrowed his eyes slightly. The former human responded with a snarl. "Well all right then." He descended to the ground.

"This is not a good idea," Houston grumbled, but he did not have much of a choice. It would look bad to the clan if he left without his patrol partner and he couldn’t leave Vlad to the mercy of the chupacabra. Grumbling again he glided down after the London gargoyle. He was glad that he chose to follow. Vlad had only been on the ground for a few seconds before the creature they had been tailing leaped out with his hands held up high and claws pointed downward.

Roaring Houston dove down after it and nearly paused midair when he saw the form of another chupacabra joining the first. The purple gargoyle landed on the second creature, his claws sank into the flesh and pinned the beast down. He did not see the three others that leaped out from their dwelling at him. Two tackled him and the third joined the first in fighting Vlad.

Jeremy spun around as he tried to fend himself. He blindly lashed out with his talons and tail barbs at the creatures that attacked him hoping that escape was possible. He grimaced and grunted everytime they lashed at him with their claws, tearing his flesh and spilling his blood. Only he noticed during the fight was that not one of them tried to bite him

A low deep howl that had the same pitch and tune as a note played on an oboe flowed through the air. The chupacabras crawled of their quarry and crouched low. Their large dark red eyes stared at the entrance of the cave, ignoring the tender spots on their limbs where one of the two gargoyles landed a successful punch and the oozing cuts from their enemies talons and in Houston’s case the pricks delivered by his tail.

Vlad pushed himself up first and studied both his body and the situation. He had long cuts and scrapes that ran over his stomach and chest and down his arms and legs. He was thankful the creatures did not strike him any where on his body with their elbows. He stared over at Jeremy and saw that he was not in a better condition.

He turned to face forward to the dark maw of the rocky dome and gulped. He could make out seven pairs of ruby orbs glaring at them. There would have been now way that the two of them could take them on and wondered if the whole clan would be able to thwart the beasts. He felt his muscles flinch when an eighth pair formed in the entrance and sucked in his breath when the owner of the eyes stepped forward.

The chupacabre that crawled out from the entrance was as tall as the rest of the beasts that had attacked him but the shoulders and back were slightly hunched. His mottled skin was a bit more grayer than the others. His face had jowls and the skin on his neck hung in a small wattle. The old creature limped closer to them and lifted his hand. To both Vlad’s and Houston’s surprise he curled he fingers closer towards him the motion that he wanted them to follow.

"Must be the leader," Vlad’s whisper evoked more growls and hisses from the creatures that surrounded him. "All right don’t grow a tree in your arseholes. We are following." With great caution he stepped forward. He did not hear a single growl, not even a grunt escape from the chupacabra’s throats. He turned to where Houston stood to make sure the former human was walling alongside with him into the cavern’s entrance.

"I just hope they are not leading us into a feeding frenzy," Jeremy whispered to Vlad. He ignored the hissing from their captors.

"You and me both," Vlad nodded. "But I wonder if they will try to eat us. Have you noticed that during our fight that not a single one tried to bite us?"

"You’re right," Houston entered the cave first, ducking his head so that it would slip under the stone ceiling. He blinked his eyes when his nostrils inhaled the strange door that was in the cave. "I don’t even smell rotting meat. That stink is more like..." He shriveled up his nose while trying to form the thought. "It smells like compost, like rotting cabbage."

Vlad had to agree to that. The stench did remind him of when the vegetable crisper was not cleaned out and the stench filled not only the kitchen but the dining area as well. He held his breath as he continued through the cave. His eyes strayed to the rocky sides of the dwelling where more chupacabras stared at him. Their crimson eyes narrowed and teeth bared, they sent out more hisses through their clenched teeth. Their clenched fangless teeth. Vlad nearly fell over when he noticed their lack of long pointed canines.

"My word," his voice became higher than a whisper sending the beasts into fits of snarls and growls. "They have no fangs."

Houston gave him a stare before his eyes wandered over to the nearest group of the greenish creatures. The bat like gargoyle was right. Their thick yellowish white teeth that was clenched did not have the sharp points that gargoyles have, or something capable of biting a sheep. "It couldn’t have been them, unless they pierced the sheep necks with their claws."

The low grunt that came from in front of them caused the gargoyle to stare back up at the leader. With a slightly shaking hand the old one pointed at a pile on the ground. Both Vlad and Jeremy had to hold onto their noses when they stared down. The powerful odor wafted up from the large green pile of leaves, branches, flowers and what looked like rotting fruit.

After another grunt a younger chupcabra stepped from the crowd. His presence caused both Jeremy and Vlad to tense up, but he did not approach the two gargoyles. Instead he went right to the pile and pulled out a long thick branch. His fingers grabbed one of the leafy ends and his claws squeezed down and pinched them. Stroking down the chupcabra sent a small shower of twigs and leaves to the ground. After his hand made it to the end of the branch he bent back his arm and pressed the pointed spur of his elbow against the branch and sank it in a bit. Like with his hand and the twigs he pushed his arm down low until he peeled off a long strip of bark. He picked up the long thick brown strip, took a large bite out of it and chewed it.

"So this is food?" Houston pointed at the green pile. "They are vegetarians?"

Vlad folded his arms against his chest and let out a sigh. "Ursa was right about that tree that was missing twigs and bark being suspicious." He raised his head back up until he could meet the elder in the eyes again. "They were stripping the trees for food and they came close to Rodriguiz’s farm. They saw what really attacked the sheep." He noticed the way the leader stared at him and was a bit surprised to see him nod his head. They may not be able to speak like a gargoyle but there was no doubting that these creatures were intelligent. "They tried to scare away the real monster, not just that but attack it also."

"Then why did they attack Camilla?"

"That is a good question," Vlad hunched his shoulders and stared back at the green creatures. The chupacabra’s seemed to be as confused as he was.

____________________________________________________________________________

They had finally found a trail of the beast they had shot., or rather the Corgi did. The golden canine was let out on a leash with a couple of ranch hands. The small dog sniffed around till it detected a few drops of blood sprinkled on some long blades of grass. Reggie was the first one by their side and shined his flashlight onto the blood. He raised his hand, causing the illuminated beam to travel across more droplets of blood that dotted the green. They had the trail.

The young American businessman stared back over his shoulder and saw the outline of the ranch. He wondered how long it will be before the found the monster. From what little blood that was spilled he figured it was not a fatal shot and clutched his gun even tighter. He turned back to Thailog and Gawain. "How long are we going to be out here?"

"Not for much longer," the dark almost black gargoyle was crouched on the ground. One leg was bent with the knee and shin touching the dirt and the other leg propping up his body. His chest pressed against his leg and his hand on the ground. He was staring at a print in the ground. The long curve of the foot and the five circular marks for toe prints marked the print belonging to a human. "We found a human foot print." He glanced up and smiled at Gawain. "What do you make of this?"

The gargoyle from Avalon bent down next to him. From what Goliath told him he was a great warrior who had the strength, cunning intelligence and weapon skill that was needed to join his clan. What he was not was a good hunter or tracer. When it came down to tracking Gawain and the rest of the clan would rely on Saul. However he did pick up a few skills from his rookery brother.

"I would say that by the size and slenderness," he bent down closer. "This print belongs to a female. One who is very light on her feet by the shallowness of the impression her foot had left." He looked up when he felt a hand give his shoulder a gentle pat.

"Very good Gawain," Thailog beamed at him. "Not only are you an excellent warrior, but your tracking skills are amazing."

"No they are not," he shook his head. "I have brothers and sisters who are better at hunting and tracking than I."

"Hold my cell," Reggie waved his hand. "are you telling me we accidentally shot an innocent human girl?" His face blanched.

Thailog cringed and let out a deep breath of air through his nostrils. "I’m afraid so."

"We have to find and help her," Gawain stood up. "Before she becomes injured even further. I do wish she ran towards the direction of the ranch."

"That was where we were," Reggie gulped. "She might have associated us as some sick punks who want to kill her, that or due to the pain and shock from the gunshot she became disoriented and ran in the opposite direction."

The whooshing sound from overhead brought their focus to the figures of Ocelot and Winter gliding over head. In the arms of the gargoyle was young and very familiar woman.

"Shit!" Reggie shouted. "Please don’t tell me we shot Camilla Rodriguiez." He watched as the three of them continued towards the ranch.

"I won’t tell you," Gawain said softly. "even if it is the truth, but we better go see how badly she is hurt." He bent down and took off in lope. Thailog ran after him. Reggie stared at the two ranch hands, shrugged and raced after the gargoyles as fast as his human legs could take him.

____________________________________________________________________________

Both Gawain and Thailog arrived in time to see Ocelot land and set the human down. Thailog’s heart sank when he saw that the injured woman was indeed Camilla. "No." There goes the money.

"We didn’t mean to shoot her," Gawain placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "She will understand."

"I hope you are right," he turned to the females. He noticed the way the Winter was favoring one leg. " How bad is she shot and what happened to your foot?"

"Her shoulder was just grazed and I twisted my ankle." Winter made her voice carry over the bleating of the panicky sheep.

The sheep became even louder when Ocelot helped Camilla over to the fence. "You shouldn’t have tried to investigate the mystery yourself."

"I know," the human’s voice was almost a yell. "I thought I saw another of those monsters slinking around closer to the sheep."

The small yellowish dog caught up with the clan before the humans did His leash dragged behind him.

Reggie looked like he was about to pass out when he finally caught up. He bent forward at the waist ad grabbed his thighs while taking deep raspy breaths. "How," he spoke between breaths. "Bad is..." another gasp. "the damage?"

"My shoulder is not that badly hurt," Camilla tried to smile but growling courage at her feet made her nervous. "I will explain to my brother, but your friend has been injured."

"Good and damn," another few deep breaths. "Sorry Winter."

"Why is that dog growling at her?" Gawain furrowed his brow ridge at the small dog barking and snarling at the frightened woman.

"Perhaps we can answer that," nobody had noticed that the third group had returned. Both Houston and Vlad looked like they had just survived another battle with long scratches across their bodies and limbs, what made everyone’s eyes widen was what the gargoyles carried in their arms. Houston carried a mottled greenish humanoid creature with large dome shaped head with a streak of fuzzy fringe down the center. Large red eyes took up most of their heads.

Vlad released two more of them from his arms. The second the chupacabras feet touched the ground they sniffed the air. Three pairs of crimson eyes zeroed in on Camilla. Their lips pulled back exposing thick pale yellow teeth.

"What are you two doing?" Reggie hissed through his clenched teeth Both Gaiwan and Ocelot’s eyes illuminated. Despite her injured foot Winter raised an arm, ready to send a bolt.

"No!" Vlad nearly pounced on the mutate. "Don’t hurt them!" He grabbed her furry white hands and squeeze, evoking a small gasp from Winter.

"Leave her alone!" Ocelot pounced on him, sending both of them sprawling to the ground.

Houston noticed the way the ranch hands were aiming their guns at the chupacabras. "Hold your fire!" He shouted with both his arms and wings spread. Reggie repeated what had instructed in Spanish. "They are vegetarians. Look at their mouths!"

Gawain, Thailog and Reggie stared at the snarling jaws of the green creatures. "They have no fangs," Gawain gasped.

Reggie strained his eyes and noticed that the green gargoyle was right. "They couldn’t have killed the sheep. There were fang marks on their bodies not claw marks."

"If they are not the ones responsible then why are they going after Camilla?" Winter asked.

Houston pointed at the dog. "The same reason he’s growling at her." He glared up at the frightened woman. "You are the one who killed the sheep didn’t you?"

The woman responded by kicking the dog. The poor animal yelped from the impact of her foot striking it. She only had enough time to look up as two of the chupacabras pounced on her and sent her flying over the side of the fence. The third one scrambled over the wood and joined the fray.

"Camilla!" Winter wanted to run after her and help her but her injury prevented her.

"Tell them to bring their guns but hold their fire," Thailog instructed to Reggie before he and Gawain joined the small crowd that gathered at the fence. Both females stared panic stricken as Camilla tried to fight of the chupacabras. Their expressions melted to wide eyed shock when the seemingly human girl grabbed one and threw it a few feet.

"Camilla?" Ocelot blinked The woman turned to stare at her. Where there was once a frightened young woman stood fierce female. Her brows were furrowed making her blood red eyes look even more scarier. Her lip were pulled back, exposing her long canines that hung from her top jaw like a pair of icicles. She held her hands, tipped with long sharp nails in a defensive stance. "What is she?"

"A Civeteto," Thailog was staring at the monsters printout. "A type of female vampire that feeds of children."

"How is she Rodriguiz's sister?" Gawain asked. "he isn’t a vampire."

"Civetetos breed their own kind with human men. He said they were half brother and sister." He turned to Reggie. "Ask them to shoot her."

The human businessman cocked his eye brows. "Are you crazy?"

"Fine," Thailog said and raised his gun. "Then I guess I will have to do it."

"No don’t!" Ocelot placed herself between Thailog and the fence. Even though he was her leader she couldn’t let him kill Camilla. "Don’t hurt her." She turned her head towards the beasts and Camilla. "Leave her alone!" Her blazing red eyes dulled when she saw the red color had faded from Camilla’s eyes.

The Civeteto’s eyes were turned up in despair. The chupacbras were resting on their haunches hissing at her while she mouthed the same words over and over.

Ocelot formed the words in her own mouth silently, before she poke them out loud. She understood what they meant, but had to translate them into English for the others. "Please shoot me." Her eyelids closed, allowing only one tear to seep through.

"This should make it easy," Thailog whispered while aiming the gun again. Without any further hesitation he pulled the trigger.

_________________________________________________________________________

They had decided to let Rodriguiz decide on Camilla’s fate. The shot from Thailog’s gun only knocked her out. It was not going to kill her. That would take a wooden stake or a weapon of silver. With a heavy heart the ranch owner gave them a command to do her in.

"She was human," Rodriguiz sighed while wiping at his tear filled eyes with a rag. "The killings only started after her eighteenth birthday. She changed then." He wept silently for a minute. "She was a good sister. She didn’t want to be Civenteto. She fed on sheep instead of children." Her burried his face in his hands and continued to cry.

After offering their condolences Thailog ordered the clan back to the headquarters. They were not going to ask for money, but Rodriguiz wrote a check anyway. Thailog accepted it, but lowered the original price by a few hundred pesos.

Once they returned home Thailog commanded Houston to take the chupacabras they took with them back to their base. They were going to keep in touch with the chupacaba clan until they leave Mexico. Before they pack up they will try to convince some of the vegetarian creatures to join them.

Thailog had already entered their home when he nearly bumped into Seneca. The teenager was staring at them sleepily while she wore a pale purplish pink night gown. "You are up late."

She placed her hands on her hips. "I just finished studying and am about o go to sleep. Finals is this week. Could everyone please be quiet when I’m in my room?" Her hands left her hips and crossed over her chest.

Thailog stretched his wings out until they nearly touched the walls in the hall way. His jaw opened for the deep yawn that ended in a soft dull roar, exposing his sharp pearly canines. He stared down at the young human who kept her arms folded across her chest. "I respect your wishes." He looked back up at his clan. "Until we move we must try not to make too much noise near Seneca’s room. Her time of study and sleep are important to her," he smirked. "And our clan."

Seneca gave a soft snort. "Thank you." She turned around and headed back to her room.

"Would you care for some tea?"

"I just want some sleep."

Thailog nodded. "Very well." He turned to Reggie who was still studying the check. "Ask Felicia to brew a pot of apple cinnamon tea." He smiled at the rest of is clan. "I want you all to take a break and relax. " He folded his wings and headed for the entertainment room.

____________________________________________________________________________

Ocelot chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. Thailog had ordered them to teak a break and relax, and Winter had asked to see her. She did not know why. Well there was one way to find out. She raised a hand to the mutate’s door and drummed her knuckles against it lightly. She did not know if Spring was with her or not.

"Come on in," Winters voice called out.

Ocelot stepped into the room. Her eyes searched the whole room, trying to avoid looking at her. "Where is Spring?"

"She’s asleep."

"You wanted to see me?

Winter stared at the bland oatmeal colored floor. Her leathery fur lined wings folded across her shoulders. "I’ll admit I was not very kind to you when I brushed you off a few days ago." Her voice was a soft breath that clung to the air.

"You made your point loud and clear."

"It isn’t that," she stepped closer to her. "I never just saw you as an option. I never thought of myself as being bisexual."

Ocelot blinked. "But what about Fang?"

"I have this feeling that I will never see him again, with our constant moving."

"Does that mean?" She held out her hands to take Winter’s hands into her own. She waited for the mutate to answer her. Instead the other female wrapped her wings around her and leaned in for a kiss.

The End